Filenews 3 February 2026 - by Angelos Angelodimou
The Statistical Service is launching, starting a Survey of Family Budgets. The final goal of the survey is to revise the weighting factors of the Consumer Price Index (Price Index) as well as the goods and services included in the household basket.
In addition, the resulting data will be used to update private consumption figures in national accounts, to analyze the amount and distribution of household expenditure and income, as well as to compile various socio-economic indicators. The research is carried out in accordance with a European Regulation which all member states of the European Union are obliged to implement.
More specifically, as stated in yesterday's announcement by Statistics, through the survey, the purchasing habits of households throughout the year will be recorded. In particular, the survey is carried out on a sample basis and will cover 4,800 households in the urban and rural areas of Cyprus. The data collection will be evenly distributed over a period of 12 months, from February 2026 to January 2027 and every 18 days, the enumerators will visit about 240 households nationwide. As Statistics emphasizes, the provision of information by the respondents is mandatory, according to the legislation. Refusal, omission or negligence to provide data, non-compliance with the time frames set by the Statistical Service and the provision of false, incomplete or inaccurate information is an offence and is punishable. It is noted, however, that the results that will be made public will be in such a form that it will not be possible to identify the personal data of the interviewees.
According to what "F" had written a month ago, the changes will focus on four axes. (1) Updating the weighting factors, depending on the weight of each product in the Price Index. (2) In the application of a new version of the classification system. (3) The change of the base year from 2015 to 2025. (4) The diversification of the composition of the products of the Consumer Price Index. As we were informed by Statistics, these changes will not have an effect on the way inflation is measured.
As it is understood, the two most important and basic changes that will occur are the update of the weighting factors and of course the differentiation of the composition of the products of the Consumer Price Index, or otherwise as it is more widely known, in the household basket.
By way of illustration, the household basket consists of the products and services for which households spend a significant amount to acquire and are weighted with specific coefficients for the compilation of the CPI. Weights, on the other hand, are the weight or percentage with which they affect the CPI, the goods and services it includes. Based on the changes being promoted, the new household basket will include 850 goods and services, compared to 805 in the previous one. 130 new goods and services will be added, while 85 goods will be removed. The selection of new products and the removal of existing ones is based on the annual expenditure of households based on the latest Household Budget Survey.
